Amid Frustrations, Metrolink Is Said to Face an ‘Imminent’ Change

ByNICK GERDA |October 13, 2014

Southern California’s main passenger railroad is in for a significant “imminent” change, Orange County’s transportation board chairman said Monday, noting frustrations by the county’s representatives on the railroad’s board.

While he was vague about the potential change, Orange County Transportation Authority Chairman Shawn Nelson suggested the possibility of a different agency being contracted to manage rail service.

“It’s imminent. They cannot run this system and we are wasting our time asking them to,” Nelson, who also sits on the railroad’s board, said at Monday’s OCTA board meeting.

“I’m not trying to make a news story,” he added.

OCTA board members went directly into closed session Monday morning after the public part of their meeting.

The potential changes come amid frustration by OCTA board members over what they describe as a poor customer experience at Metrolink and unreliable ridership figures.

“Metrolink is poorly run and wouldn’t have any idea what their ridership is,” said Nelson. “It’s sort of an endless source of frustration.”

“Management there – we’re just continuing to go back to a very poor model, with a lot of [human resources] issues,” he added. “We’re just tired of fighting about HR and personalities and not focusing on ridership and fares and things like that.”

Michael Hennessey, who is the vice chairman of Metrolink’s board, also chimed in with frustrations over ridership figures and financial issues.

Additionally, after a ticket and receipt is printed out, the machines often wait about 20 seconds before allowing a new ticket buying process to start.

During busy ridership times, those delays exacerbate long lines of people waiting to buy tickets. Sometimes, people who arrive early still miss their train due to a long line at a station’s sole Metrolink ticket machine.

And even when passengers do purchase tickets, they’re often not checked on board the trains.

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